


Linked Universe Linktober 2020

by Kae_the_Minish_Bandit



Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Linktober, No Cursing, fall - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:20:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26756419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kae_the_Minish_Bandit/pseuds/Kae_the_Minish_Bandit
Summary: The Linked Universe Discord prompts for Linktober. Some will be longer than others, and some will be drawings, but I'm going to try to complete all of the prompts! : )
Relationships: Malon/Time
Comments: 7
Kudos: 54





	1. October 1st - Pumpkins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is my very first post on ao3!
> 
> (I hope you enjoy!)

There’s a northern wind gusting through Hyrule now, piercing through all eras. The land shall be painted with the vibrant colors of fall before it is covered with a deep blanket of snow. The pumpkins that bloomed yellow in the months of spring and summer have now ripened to a muted orange reminiscent of the sunset or rise. Of all the links, short and tall, young and old, each has their own way of welcoming fall’s beauty. Of course, behind that beauty is the scent of death, the knowledge that nothing is permanent in this world, masked by the reds and oranges. But even the bright colors are caused by death.

\--------

Four runs ahead of the group, the leaves swirling around him. _The leaves are very beautiful,_ part of him contemplates while another part thinks about lunar cycles while another part simply wants peace and quiet. _We ran ahead for a reason, you know, and it_ wasn’t _to frolic in the leaves._ He thanks himself for the reminder. _Who even does that? Well clearly we do._ He’s supposed to be seeing if he could recognize who’s Hyrule this is. (He’s cheating, four very observant people reside within him with four very distinct memories of each Hyrule. It’s a bit disconcerting, actually. Not like anyone knows.)

Four stops and takes in the surrounding forest. He can hear water flowing from around a bend in the path. Sprinting forward, he sees a spring flowing up from the ground. “Oh, the Ordona Province in Twi’s Hyrule.” He calls back much more loudly. “Twi, we’re in your Hyrule!” _Well that was repetitive, I’m sure the readers_ loved _that. Blue I will end you stop breaking the walls._

_\--------_

Sky loved Ordon Village. It reminded him of Skyloft, right down to the pumpkins. Pumpkins, he thought, were simply a way of living. Clearly these people agreed. In his last visit, Jaggle had told him of how they farmed pumpkins. Sky had shared a few tips he had learned when he had to work at Pumpkin Landing after he broke that chandelier. (It was an accident! Really!) It was as peaceful as the sky, under the protection of the Light Spirits, as Twilight had told them.

Walking into the village this time was like walking into a place where time was sped up. Every person was hustling around. Heavenly scents wafted from the buildings. Brightly colored banners were strewn everywhere and there was music that seemed lighter than the clouds. A change came over each and every member of their party.

Twilight seemed to become one with the festivities, melting into each activity before moving on to another, a stark departure from his usual stoic stance. Four, for all of his unusual maturity, is still but a child, and he seems more free here, chatting with invisible friends. His eyes shine with a warm red. Wind, who generally tries to seem much more adult-like than he is, bounds around, with the same carefree energy Four has.

Wild and Time generally tensed up in large towns. Sky wasn’t sure why. (He wasn’t keen to find out, to be honest.) It was interesting to see them this relaxed. Hyrule looked around in awe of the town. Given what Sky knows of Hyrule’s era, there are no settlements this large. From the pure giddiness on his face it seemed like there were no festivals at all. They were going to fix that. Warriors and Legend had already disappeared off somewhere. Sky could truthfully say that he didn’t want to know where they were. _Legend’s probably breaking something and Warriors is probably flirting. Again._

\-------

Wind was ecstatic. The people here were all so nice and there were competitions. He’d have to enter some of those! Knife throwing competitions? He could throw knives well. ~~Time definitely hadn't stopped him from doing that just last week in fear of Wind stabbing his eye out.~~ Why the [insert generic four-letter curse word here] not? What could possibly go wrong. _Hold up. There are axe throwing competitions?_

Wind turned on the spot, heading away from the knives and towards the axes. Time caught his eye and gave him a _look_ . Wind decided to ignore the aforementioned _look_ and continued toward the axe-throwing table.

Unfortunately, the moment before Wind reached the table, each and every one of the Links fell sideways, through time and space. (Why? Divine intervention, a plot device, does it really matter?)

They were at Lon Lon Ranch. 

\------

Time could tell the rest of the group was disappointed. It was fair, because they hadn’t rested for a while. Given that Malon had practically adopted most of the other Links, it was a pretty safe bet that they could rest here. But the disappointment in leaving the town was not simply that it was a town. It was the atmosphere the festivities had created. Perhaps they could-

“What if we recreated the festival here?” Warriors, surprisingly was the one to say that. Clearly the Captain thought more similarly to Time than he let on. Great minds truly do think alike. The majority of the group was nodding in agreement, save Four, who was strangely blank.

“What should we do?” asked Wind. “There isn’t exactly a place we could throw axes around without getting yelled at by like, Malon.” _Speak of the Devil._ Malon had walked up behind them while they had been chattering.

“I mean, as long as you don’t throw them at the cows or cuccos, there isn’t really a problem with throwing axes at things, so long as you clean up afterwards.” She leaned in towards Wind conspiratorially and stage-whispered theatrically. “And if the aliens decide to abduct the cows here as well, at least we’ll have protection.” Wind’s expression can be clearly read as _There are aliens I can throw axes at?_ “Of course, you’ll have to find the axes. They’re probably in the barn somewhere.”

“Do y’all wanna do something with pumpkins? That was the main point of the festival back there, you know. You can carve them and when you’re done with them, you can cook them in so many ways. Boil them, mash them, stick them in a stew. The best part are the roasted seeds.” Twilight explained. Four looked at Twilight exasperatedly. He seemed to recognize part of what Twilight had said.

“Don’t quote Lord of the Rings movies at me. It’s bad enough when you quote the books, at least they could, in theory, exist in this plane of reality. But the movies cannot exist, as they use technology beyond what is found before Sky’s time, or during Wild’s time. The readers are now wondering why the author made me say this when there is no point to this at all.”

“What.”

\----

About an hour later, the pumpkins Wild pulled from his Sheikah Slate are ready for carving. 

Wind and Hyrule follow Malon into the kitchen to make pie with the innards of the pumpkin, which are honestly kind of disgusting. Legend is in charge of roasting the pumpkin seeds. Nobody expects them to be done anytime soon. Legend is a master procrastinator. Warriors seemed to think he was above such things as making food. ~~What he thinks he’ll be doing on a farm is anyone’s guess.~~ Twilight and Sky are discussing ways to grow pumpkins in the other room.

This leaves Time, Wild, and Four to carve pumpkins. There are thirteen pumpkins between the three of them. 

“Should we be concerned that there are thirteen pumpkins?” The comment hangs in the air for a moment before Wild shrugs and starts carving. There is silence for almost half of an hour before Time starts whistling a tune. Four takes note of the rise and fall of the music and harmonizes. Wild, not to be left out, taps his foot to give the music a steady rhythm. 

And so, the music swells, accompanying the carvings of heroes from ages far in the future and past. 

\------

“Warriors, can you toss me the fire rod?”

“And why do you want it?”

“To roast pumpkin seeds, you idiot!”

“Can I help?”

“I thought you were too high and mighty for such tasks.”

“I feel so appreciated.”

“Just hand it over.”

“I suppose I must do as told, your highness.”

“I should never have told you Fable was my sister.”

\--------

Hyrule is covered in flour. There’s no other way to describe it. His skin is covered in the powdery white substance. Wind and Malon are laughing. His face flushes with embarrassment. 

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to spill it everywhere! How much did it cost? I’ll try to repay you somehow!”

“Honey,” Malon starts, “you don’t have to repay me with anything. It was an accident. Flour is easy to come by in the market anyways.” She helps him wash off the flour.

“If you don’t want to become flour, you could help me pour this sugar in the pumpkin mix.” Wind holds a full bag of sugar above the bowl. Hyrule isn’t sure that the pumpkin mix needs all of that sugar. He shrugs and walks over to help anyway.

\--------

“Are the seeds supposed to be charred?”

“I don’t think so.”

“.....”

“.......”

“Too late now!”

\-----

  
  


The pumpkins found lining the outside of the ranch that night depict masks and brothers and beasts. They glow with an assortment of colors, all shades of the rainbow. The warm glow of life that comes from inside the house with the chatter of the heroes and Malon and the scent of pie is extinguished in the eeriness of the pumpkins.

Four of the pumpkins resemble masks. Roughly carved, they glow bright. One a deku scrub, one a goron, one a zora, and one closely resembling a human but _off._

Another four resemble noble beasts. One a bactrian camel, stately, crackling with electricity. Another glows blue, a gentle elephant. A bird peeks out from one, proud. A salamander seems to crawl over one, heat radiating from it. If you looked closely, you could see a small bike engraved on each one.

The last five are the strangest of all. Each one looks just like the next, save a few differences. One is grinning, all childish glee and emitting a faint red glow like a fire. Another has a sly look on his face, grinning with purple. One stands tall, seemingly leading the pumpkins. The one that is blue is all loyalty and fierceness.

They say jack-o-lanterns have the spirits of the dead. Untrue.

They are filled to the brim with love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There were a few more scenes I wanted to include, such as Twi & Sky bonding over pumpkins and dinner ft. the burnt pumpkin seeds, but it was more important to me to get the fic out in time! I hope you enjoyed this fic!


	2. October 2nd - Campfire

So it took me forever, but I finally figured out how to upload pictures to Ao3!

This is actually my first piece of digital art, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

 ~~It's also my first time drawing~~ Wind.

Here is October 2nd - Campfire:


	3. October 3rd - Surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a series of 100-word drabbles all for this prompt. The idea was to have them all connect at the last one. They all have similar endings too! I might try to write more of these, this was fun! I really wanted to practice drabbles because I normally get carried away with details & such!

Warriors was on watch one cool fall night. It was starry and silent. 

Glancing behind him, there were seven Links asleep. Who was missing?

It was Four. Four was the missing member. Where was he?

There was a little  _ patterpatterpatter  _ of mouse feet. Warriors ignored it.  _ A mouse wouldn’t be a threat, right?  _

The little noises stopped.

_ Where  _ was _ Four? _

Warriors turned around, keeping gory images of mice feasting on Four’s corpse out of his mind.  _ Fighting on a battlefield leaves some thing ingrained in your head. _

There was a miniature Four on the ground in front of him. “Surprise?”

\-------

Wind is excited as they walk the path to Time’s Zora’s Domain. He hasn’t seen a zora up close before.  Laruto doesn’t count, she’s dead.

The path stops abruptly in front of a waterfall.

Time plays his ocarina and the waterfall just  _ stops _ flowing, revealing a doorway. 

As they enter, Wind can hear a harp strumming along with the flow of water. It’s peaceful here.

Suddenly, a spiral of water shoots into the air, and a female zora lands and says, “Link, my one-time fiancee, would you mind introducing me to your companions?”

Time’s blush reveals more than anything. “Surprise?”

\---------

The path they walk in this moment is a sad one. It is the one Legend walked after Koholint.

His heart still aches.

And he still blames the Wind Fish,  _ who’s a jerk. _

Warriors is going over a list of new recruits in the mismatched army of his Hyrule.

“Agatha, Medli, Ruto, Rudania, Fi, Marin-”

“WHAT THE [insert naughty word Legend would use here] WARRIORS!”

“Literally what in Hyrule did I do to offend you, Legend.”

“YOU KNOW MARIN?”

“I wouldn’t say I  _ know _ her, but I know  _ of  _ her.”

“Honestly?”

“Honestly.”

“I thought she was dead.”

Warriors shrugs. “Surprise?”

\-------

Twilight’s weird necklace is laying on a rock near the entrance to their camp.

No, it  _ definitely  _ doesn’t look like a pinecone.

Twilight notices it and sprints over and grabs it quickly. Unfortunately, in his haste, his arm brushes the crystal. Shadows overcome his body and in his place stands Wolfie.

Legend decides it’s a good idea to grab the pinecone-esque rock from it’s spot on the ground.

He too is consumed by shadows. His form is a lot less  _ menacing  _ than Twilight’s. He is a fluffy pink bunny.

Both of the animals' faces communicate one word with sarcasm.  _ Surprise. _

\-------

“Hey, alternate me’s!” Wind’s voice is filled with glee.

“Yes?” “What do you want?” “Mhmm?”

“I have a surprise!”

Groans resound around their camp. 

“We’ve had more than enough surprises for the next five years.” This sentiment is appreciated by almost everybody in camp, save Four, who has a grin on his face.

“ _ Just you wait, just you wait _ .” 

“Other than that rather concerning statement from Four, what is this  _ surprise? _ ”

It is only at this moment that the Links realize they haven’t seen Wind. It is at this moment that he drops down on them and states, “I  _ exist. _ ” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am posting this on October 2nd because I can't post on the weekends. Thank you for reading! Criticism is welcome! (but not required :D )


	4. October 4th - Warmth

If you guys noticed that I mixed up days 3 & 4, oops. That one's on me.

Anyways, this piece of digital art I drew on my phone, and it was a _lot_ easier to make.


	5. October 5th - Companion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oops?
> 
> Sorry that this is so late, I got caught up in school 'n stuff.

“Did any of you have companions on your adventures?” Hyrule’s question hangs in the air for a minute or two before it’s answered. 

“I had several, though how you count it is pretty confusing. I  _ definitely  _ had at least one. His name was Ezlo, and he was a hat, to put it simply.” Four was vague as always.

“What do you mean,  _ he was a hat _ ?” Legend’s incredulity was shared by the majority of the group, save Wind, who had a weirder companion. 

“Well, mine was a talking boat, so I can’t really judge.”  _ Now there are two cryptic s****. Lovely. _

“What.”

“Let Four finish being vague, then I can avoid explaining.” Wind’s grin is unnerving. He’s clearly enjoying this.  _ My companion was a talking boat indeed _ .

“So ANYways Ezlo was a talking bird hat geezer. Annoying, but I love him. Put this tassel on my hood to remind me of him.” Showing off the tassel on his hood, Four had a smile on his face.

“I can’t _ really  _ describe my companions on my next adventures, because Reasons. YOU NEXT WIND.”

“So my boat wasn’t  _ technically  _ a boat but he _ kinda  _ was. He was ‘the last king of Hyrule and all that bulls***.’”

“I feel like there are a lot of 'last kings of Hyrule’. But continue.” this from Wild.  _ Hold up the King during his time was dead and then the kingdom fell right? _

“He enjoyed being super cryptic and was just  _ done  _ with all the crap I pulled. It was amazing. Anyways, on my second quest thingamabob I had Ceilia, who was ‘the Spirit of Courage’ or whatever, which I had thought was  _ my _ job, but her existence was debatable, yadda yadda yadda.”

“How so?” Legend leaned in closer to listen to Wind.

“Because of a giant whale god’s dream or whatever and then I had to wake up said whale god and he was like ‘by the way the world you just worked so hard to save doesn't actually exist and you get one wish. I wished for the guy who lent me a boat to not die so there was that.”

“A giant whale?” Legend said “I met one and he destroyed his own little reality with no care in the world for the beings he created. Let’s see, what other companions have I had?”

“In Labrynna I met a sassy little f***** named Ralph. He loved being mysterious as f***.”

“More sassy than you?”

“Most definitely.”

“And then there was Ricky, Moosh and Dimitri. I could summon them using whistles. It was very interesting because I could ride them ‘cause they were animals. Ricky would have boxing gloves which, by the way, who thought it was a good idea to give a kangaroo boxing gloves. Moosh was like this weird flying bear thing which is cool as heck. Dimitri was this like a Charmander thing which was great.” Legend could talk for hours about all the stupid things he’s done but opts for other people to share instead.

Twilight just outright says “I'm not going to talk about her. She is in another dimension is all I’m gonna say. She basically cancelled any conversations we had by shattering this magical mirror.” 

“A magical mirror? Oh my goddesses same!” says Four.  _ Of course  _ he doesn’t elaborate. He just continues polishing his sword.

“Does Ravio count?” says Legend, still thinking about who would’ve been counted as a companion on his many adventures. “He crashed at my place and sold me stuff.”

“Nope!”

“I had a fairy as a companion.” Warriors chimes in. “Her name was Proxi. She made me sound a f*** ton nicer than I actually was, because outside of battle I was supposed to be the dignified, silent protagonist.”

“Wait, you were ever quiet?” Legend gasps with mock astonishment. “That seems physically impossible. Are we talking about the same person?”

Laughter runs throughout the camp and Warriors is blushing madly.

“I’ve got you beat there, captain.”

“How so?” asks the aforementioned captain.

“I had  _ two  _ fairy companions. One was named Navi, the other Tatl.”

“Did she have a twin named Tale?” this was clearly meant as a joke, if Wind’s delivery is anything to go by but Time’s reaction is interesting.

He laughs. “Actually, it’s a brother, but close enough!”

“What about Navi? Anything about her? Was she like super annoying or something?”

Time’s face falls. “No, not really. She left. We’re still looking for her.”   
  


Realization shows on Hyrule’s face. “So that’s who Malon was talking about when she said the thing with looking for a specific fairy, you’re looking for your companion.”

Time nods once and they leave it be.

Sky, always eager for a better mood in the group, changes the subject. “You know the master sword?”

“What about it?”

“She really loves all of you, even those who haven’t wielded her. She’s watching over you, making sure that you’re safe.  _ She cares.” _

Though many of the Links remain skeptical, there is without a doubt the fact that remains that  _ at least Sky cares. _

Hyrule is hunched over. He didn’t expect to be one of two Links that hadn’t had a companion. Wild notices (how is he so good at knowing when people are sad?) and comes over to whisper in his ear.

“You know, we have the best companion. It’s called the great outdoors. And if outside is our companion, then we can’t get lost, can we?”

Hyrule smiles.

He  _ does _ have a companion. Or rather, eight companions. His brothers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was supposed to be more crack-y but then the end just came by and I was like, 'well then'.


End file.
